In today's world, safety and security are of great concern to both individuals and organizations worldwide. In this respect, many individuals and organizations now employ surveillance equipment, such as cameras and/or microphones, to monitor the activity of people and things at various locations throughout the world. For example, a large corporation may employ surveillance equipment throughout its premises to monitor for unwanted activity such as intrusion, theft, violence, escape, and/or damage. As another example, a government agency may employ surveillance equipment in various public areas of interest for unwanted activity such crime, terrorism, and/or other threats to public safety and security. Government agencies may also be able to monitor for unwanted activity by tapping telephones, such as cell phones, thus transforming those telephones into another type of surveillance equipment. As a result of monitoring activity via surveillance equipment, individuals and/or organizations may thus be able to improve safety and security worldwide.
As surveillance equipment becomes more pervasive, however, problems may arise. For example, as individuals and/or organizations employ surveillance equipment at an increasing number of different locations, it may become difficult for those individuals and/or organizations to devote the appropriate amount of attention to the surveillance data recorded at each of those locations, which may negatively impact the safety or security at those locations. As another example, as individuals and/or organizations employ additional surveillance equipment and record additional surveillance data, those individuals and/or organizations may need to invest in additional data storage that can be both costly and space-consuming. As yet another example, as individuals and/or organizations increasingly monitor surveillance equipment remotely via a network, network bandwidth can become an issue both in terms of cost and availability. Accordingly, an improved method and system of monitoring activity is desired.